ECFA would be no silver bullet: Lee

ECONOMIC WOES Former president Lee Teng-hui said it was 'silly' to expect that signing such a pact would help Taiwan as China had enough problems of its own

By Ko Shu-ling AND Meggie Lu / STAFF REPORTERS

Some 2,300 agricultural products that are banned from being imported from China are already protected, Tsai said.

“If we begin discussions with China, whether it is an ECFA or cross-strait trade normalization, the ban on these goods would inevitably have to be lifted. In international trade terms, a defense mechanism is established to protect a specific item, to lift the ban and create a defense mechanism for each of the 2,300 products would not make sense,” Tsai said.

“I believe that the impact of an ECFA would greatly exceed that of joining the WTO, and joining the WTO has already impacted our industries enormously,” Tsai said.

“Since Ma's inauguration, many of his political promises have not been delivered. While many of these undelivered promises were actually under the control of the government, the probability of promises not being delivered will be even higher when they depend on China,” Tsai said.